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Experience Is Key for Total Knee Replacement Outcomes
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A new study funded by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal
and Skin Diseases suggests a positive relationship between surgeons and
hospitals performing a high volume of total knee replacements (TKR) and the
outcomes for these interventions. The study found that patients of surgeons who
perform 50 or more TKRs per year had a lower incidence of morbidity and
postoperative complications than those whose doctors do 12 or less. Also,
hospitals with 200 or more TKRs per year demonstrated similar positive outcomes
in contrast to facilities that do less than 25 procedures per year.
The study research team, headed by Jeffrey N. Katz, M.D., M.S., analyzed 80,904
claims of Medicare patients who had primary or revision TKR between January 1
and August 31, 2000...
...TKR is a relatively low-risk surgical procedure in terms of 90-day rates of
mortality and adverse events, when performed by an experienced surgeon in an
experienced hospital. Most of the findings in this study are consistent with
those reported in literature on associations between procedure volume and
outcome for hip replacements and other surgical procedures. Of the 80,904
patients in the sample, 0.6 percent died, 0.8 percent had an acute myocardial
infarction, 0.8 percent had a pulmonary embolus, 0.4 percent had a deep wound
infection and 1.4 percent were hospitalized for pneumonia...
...Katz, JN, et al. Association between hospital and surgeon procedure volume and
outcome of total knee replacement. Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
2004;86-A(9): 1909-1916.
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